It was a typical, winter day in the Evergreen Forest. Cedric Sneer was out on the lake with his best friend, Bert Raccoon, and the two of them were hitting around a hockey puck.

"This is great," Bert said. "It's the perfect day for hockey, don't you think, Cedric?"

"Sure," Cedric said, giving the puck a good whack. "But there really isn't much of a challenge to one on one hockey."

"That's a good point. But I think I see some challengers coming this way."

Bert was right. His friends, Ralph and Melissa, were skating towards them, carrying their own hockey sticks.

"Hey, Ralph! Melissa!" Bert called. "How but a little hockey? You two versus me and Cedric!"

"I don't know," Melissa said.

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Bert said.

"Oh, okay, what the heck?" Ralph said. "Let's go."

Ralph and Bert faced off, and Ralph skating off with the puck. Bert practically flew after him, and snagged the puck away. The game basically went on like this for awhile. At one point, Ralph would have the puck and pass it to Melissa, or Bert would have the puck and pass it to Cedric. Since neither team had a goalie, points were pretty much easy to score.

"Okay, score's tied," Bert said. "Next point wins!"

The others agreed. Bert had the puck, and passed it to Cedric, who skated towards Ralph and Melissa's "goal post." Unfortunately, Ralph sped in front of Cedric, ready to steal the puck, and Bert practically flew in to stop him. Cedric saw Ralph coming and tried to dodge him, but he didn't see Bert, and the two of them collided and ended up falling on the ice.

CRASH!

Melissa ended up with the puck, and shot it into Bert's and Cedric's "goal."

"We win," she said.

"Nice going, Cedric," Bert said, sarcastically. "We could have won that game easily."

"It wasn't my fault, Bert," Cedric replied. "You were the one coming from behind."

"Come on, Bert, it was just a game," Ralph said.

Bert didn't say anything, and stood up. He yanked his hockey stick out from he tangled mess of himself, Cedric, and their sticks, only to find that it had broken in half.

"Augh!" Bert shouted. "My stick! My lucky hockey stick! Now look what you've done, Cedric!"

"Bert, it's just a hockey stick," Cedric replied, getting up.

"No, your stick is just a hockey stick!" Bert shouted. "My hockey stick was a one of a kind, mint conditioned, irreplaceable, autographed by Wayne Grizzly lucky hockey stick!"

"How lucky can it be? We lost the game."

"Brother. If you weren't such a klutz, Cedric, we would have won that game, and my stick would be in one piece!"

"I am not a klutz! You were the one who came up out of nowhere trying to get the puck when I had it in control!"

"Don't try to blame this on me, Cedric, you're the one who lost the game, and broke my lucky hockey stick! I'm never gonna speak to you again!"

Cedric didn't say anything more. He started off the ice, and headed home. He thought Bert was making a big deal over nothing. Not speaking to him again, just because his hockey stick was broken? Cedric didn't understand it.

Once Cedric returned to the Sneer mansion, he saw his father, Cyril, talking on the phone to someone.

"This investment will make me millions!" he shouted. "Be sure to invest the million dollars I put in."

"Pop, what are you doing?" Cedric asked, once Cyril hung up the phone.

"Just a little investing," Cyril replied. "And let me tell you, Cedric, it's going to be bringing in the big money!"

"What did you do?"

"I invested in an oil company down in Texas, and if it takes off . . . ."

Cedric got a look at what Cyril had been doing, and what exactly he was getting into. It was an oil company all right. But Cedric happened to know that part of Texas usually had fake oil lines, and only ended up stealing the money people invested in it.

"How much did you put into this investment, Pop?" he asked.

"A million," Cyril said, shrugging. "So what? They said I'll make it back. What should it matter to you, Cedric?"

"Pop, I hate to tell you this, but this company is a con job. Remember? You wanted to invest in this company last week, and I told you not to? And I even told you not to earlier today."

"Cedric, you have to be thinking about things like this. Oil is very big business, and Texas is just full of it!"

Cedric sighed. As usual, Cyril wasn't going to listen to him, when he tried to tell him something important. He picked up the phone and dialed the number Cyril was talking to. When he got the person who sold the investment to Cyril, he cancelled it.

"Cancel the investment?" the person on the other end said.

"Yes, cancel it," Cedric said. "Pop changed his mind about it, that's all."

"Okay, but you do realize that there are no refunds."

"Oh well."

Cedric didn't mean to be sneaky about this. He hoped Cyril wasn't going to be too angry about this, but he would only lose more money if he kept the investment in this phony oil company. He went downstairs to the basement to work on the super computer he was building. It was coming alone quite nicely. Cedric hoped to finish it by the end of the week. He worked in the basement, because he knew he could get some privacy down there, and he also knew that his baby son, Forest, wouldn't mess with anything down there. It was one of the rooms he wasn't allowed in.

As Cedric was working on his computer, his wife, Sophia, came down the stairs, carrying Forest.

"Cedric, can you keep your eye on the baby?" she asked. "I need to go practice my swan glides."

"Your swan glides are perfect, Sophia," Cedric said, not bothering to look up from his work. "I don't know why you insist on working on them."

"I want to stay in top condition in case I'm ever invited back to the Olympics or something like that," Sophia replied.

"All right," Cedric said. "I'll watch the baby."

"Thanks, Cedric."

Sophia put Forest on the floor, and walked upstairs, figuring Cedric would stop working on his super computer, and take the baby upstairs. Unfortunately, Cedric didn't even notice Forest. He just continued to work on his computer. Forest looked up at Cedric, and then crawled over to a part of the computer that was already finished. Cedric had worked on that part for months. Forest picked up a cable that was attached to it, and began pulling on it. He laughed as he pulled, and the computer started to tilt downward. It was then that Cedric noticed. He heard Forest laughing, turned around, and shot to his feet.

"FOREST!" he shouted, just as Forest gave the cable one final yank, and the computer came crashing down. Cedric grabbed Forest and pulled him out of the way just in time. The computer hit the ground with a loud CRASH!

"Oh Forest!" Cedric groaned. "Look what you did! I spent months working on that!"

"What's going on?" Sophia asked, coming down the stairs. "I was just about to leave when I heard a crash! Is everything okay?"

"No, everything is not okay!" Cedric shouted, feeling pretty frustrated. "Forest, who's not even allowed to be down here in the first place, just wrecked part of my computer!"

"Well . . . . . I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose," Sophia said. "He is only a baby, after all."

"Sophia, I told you never to let Forest down here! It's too dangerous for him to play down here! Just look! My computer almost fell on him! What's worse is now I'll have to start all over on it. Way to go, Forest. You just ruined the most important thing in my life right now!"

Cedric practically shoved Forest into Sophia's arms, which caused him to burst out crying. Cedric didn't pay any attention. He just started picking up the mess, and trying to remember which part of the computer went where.

"Cedric!" Sophia shouted, a little shocked. This was the first time she had ever seen Cedric blow up like that.

"Not now," Cedric grumbled. "Thanks to Forest, I've got a big mess down here and half of my work on this computer is ruined!"

"Cedric, it was just an accident. I think you're being a little rough on Forest. He's only a baby!"

"Rough? Sophia, he wrecked my computer!"

"He didn't know any better!"

"Well, I think he should by now! We only have to keep telling him not to do things, and he does them anyway!"

"That's mainly your father's influence on him!"

"Just take him out of here! I've got to fix this!"

Forest felt bad. He didn't mean to make his daddy mad. He whimpered, and reached out for Cedric, trying to tell him that he was sorry, but Cedric just ignored him, and began picking up spare parts.

"Forest, not now!" he shouted. "I don't have time for you now!"

Forest's face crumbled, and he let out a wail that could be heard in the next county. Sophia tried to comfort him, which wasn't easy, considering she was fuming at Cedric.

"Cedric Sneer, that was uncalled for!" she shouted. "Forest didn't mean to wreck your stupid old computer, and you know it!"

"Oh, go practice your stupid old swan glides," Cedric grumbled.

"Well, if that's the way you feel about it!"

Sophia started up the stairs. Cedric really put his foot in his mouth that time. He didn't mean what he said to Sophia, and he didn't mean to yell at Forest, either. He was just frustrated that he had to start all over on his computer. He stuck a couple of nuts into his hockey jersey and raced up the stairs.

"Sophia!" he called out. "Sophia, wait! I didn't mean it!"

"Hmph!" was all Sophia had to say. She turned away from Cedric, and started to go up to the next floor of the Sneer mansion to put Forest in his crib.

Forest was still crying, and upon seeing Cedric, began to cry harder. He thought that Cedric was going to yell at him again, and it frightened him.

"Come on, Sophia, I'm sorry!" Cedric shouted.

"CEDRIC!" Cyril shouted, from the door way.

"Hold it a sec, Pop," Cedric said. "I need to talk to Sophia."

"Sofa Girl can wait! What's the big idea canceling my investment in that oil field?!"

"It was a scam, Pop! You'd lose more than a million dollars if I didn't cancel it. Besides, how'd you know I did?"

"I got a call from my investor telling me that my son cancelled my investment, and he was confirming it! And it was too late to get the investment bank! I do not like to lose money, Cedric, AND YOU KNOW IT!"

"But, Pop, if you'd just listen to me . . . ."

Cyril scoffed, and stormed out. He had to think of a way to get that million dollars back. Cedric sighed. First, his best friend was angry with him. Then his son was downright afraid of him. Next, his wife wasn't even speaking to him, and now his father was mad at him!

"What a day," he groaned, as he walked upstairs.

Cedric walked straight up to the tower, climbed out the window, and then sat on the roof for awhile, staring up at the stars. He took off his glasses, and began rubbing his eyes.

"They all might be better off without me," he said, as he looked down to the ground. It was a long way down.

Cedric stood up, and prepared to jump.